Thank you, Shanks
by JunRiko
Summary: Many years have gone by, but that solid promise Luffy and Red-Haired Shanks created in East Blue was still intact. This is a oneshot of how Luffy finally returned the straw hat back to the previous person.


_So here's my attempt at writing angst and my look on how Luffy will return Shanks's hat._

_Enjoy if possible._

* * *

Luffy stood on top of a hill looking over the ocean with his arms crossed and his eyes glued to the waves, much like he did with Ace and Sabo when they were kids. The sun shone brightly and the skies were completely clear of any clouds. It was a beautiful day accompanied with perfect weather.

Usually, in fairytales, movies and books you would imagine the mood to be graceful and at peace, but at this time, it wasn't.

Luffy's face was streaked with tears and his body was stiff and frozen. He couldn't move. He wanted to scream and punch everything in his sight, but that would make him as naive as he was when Ace passed away.

He was so inexperienced and ignorant at the time that he, too, may have killed himself on that day. Jimbei, his companion and friend, stopped him from potentially ending his life. He was grateful for that, but this time Jimbei wasn't here.

Luffy finally fell to his knees from fatigue after standing. He had been there for two days; simply standing and watching the salty water come up and crash against the rocks, then recede, over and over again.

"Shanks," Luffy muttered while hugging his knees. His voice was raw and raspy from all the previous yelling he had done. There was nothing else he could do. The comfort from his nakama was great and he was glad that this time around he knew they were safe, but it still didn't fill the whole in his chest that was re punched. It felt like his heart was stomped on over and over again and shattered into tiny, minuscule pieces. As cheesy as it sounds, Chopper couldn't fix the damage even if he wanted to.

"Shanks," Luffy repeated. He was doing this repeatedly like a broken record player on repeat. Luffy tightly shut his eyes trying to forget the painful memory that was haunting him, but he wasn't successful.

* * *

Luffy stared with wide and alarming eyes as he saw the one-armed man fall to the ground. He helplessly stood there, still in shock of what happened. Luffy lifted his hands from his sides and stared at them while shaking. Blood. His hands were covered in crimson. This wasn't his blood, however, it was the blood of someone he loved so dearly. Though, this wasn't the first time it happened.

He shook his head furiously. This scene was too familiar to Luffy. He didn't want to be brought back to this time in his life.

"Luffy!" muffled voices around him were screaming his name, continuously. He could barely hear the murmur of their voices. His vision went from his crimson colored hands and back to the limp body on the ground. Luffy finally snapped out of it and made his way to the body that still wasn't moving.

"Shanks!" Luffy yelled desperately while crawling to the body. He finally made it face to face with Shanks. He was blankly looking at the sky above. Although instead of a serious, pained emotion, planted on red-haired Shanks's face was a grin, a very large and wide grin.

"Chopper!" Luffy screamed furiously. The medic of his crew was amazing, he really could heal wounds that no other doctors could dream of healing, but Chopper was only a doctor, not a miracle worker.

"Cho-!" Luffy yelled again, but his voice broke, preventing him to yell anymore. Luffy was partly angry that the reindeer was taking such a long time to arrive and treat Shanks.

Luffy felt a hand on his arm and he looked down. Shanks's eyes were directed up at him, still with his grin on his face. Luffy's face was contorted with confusion and fear that he would lose another one of his precious people again.

"Luffy," Shanks said as loud as he could, with as much power as he could muster. Luffy's eyes widened while tears were threatening to fall. He was going to yell once again for the red-hatted reindeer, but Red-haired stopped him by shaking his head and mumbling, "It's too late."

"No!" Luffy screamed back and hid his face into the black cloak that Shanks would always wear, "not like Ace. You can't leave me like Ace."

"Please..." Luffy muttered into the dark colored cloth.

"An old man like me can't stay forever," Shanks replied while smirking, he paused and coughed, causing a line of blood to roll down his face.

"People like me have to let the new generation shine through," Shanks continued, the he laughed flimsily. "Except you and your nakama, Luffy, made a reputation without my help. You and my captain were too much alike."

"But…" Luffy muttered, sobs stopping him from making full and clear words. By this time, his eyes were overflowing with tears when he finally realized that yet again he was going to lose someone. Yet again he didn't have the power to stop it. Yet again he would have the clawing, painful feeling of being alone.

"Sorry Luffy," Shanks said, his eyes shutting slowly. Luffy stopped his sobbing to sit up and look at Shank's face after he said his last words. Tears welled up in his eyes and he gripped the dark coat once again, sobbing. Luffy lifted his hand while shaking and grabbed the top of the hat that he had always worn ever since that day Shanks had given it to him.

He slowly and carefully took if off his head and placed it on his chest and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry for annoying you and making you lose your precious arm to an idiot like me," Luffy apologized as clear as he could to the lifeless figure that was before him, "yet you still gave me your treasure under a promise we made at the docks."

Luffy stopped, opened his eyes and then placed the hat on the top of Shanks's face that was relaxed except for the edges of his mouth that were slightly curved upwards.

"But I finally did it Shanks…" Luffy said under his breath while his eyes were still stuck on Shanks, "As we promised all those years ago, I'm returning this hat to you. Thank you for everything, Shanks."

* * *

_This idea was inspired by an image, but I can't post the link because Fanfiction won't let me :/ _

_When I picture this scene in my head, I imagine it to be close to Ace's passing, so that's why it's so similar. I'm not all that familiar with writing angst, so cut me some slack, please c:_

_Read and review._


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